Tea Party, Anyone?

SECOND OPINION

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist
until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury.
From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most
benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over
loose fiscal policy, followed always by a dictatorship. The average age of the
world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years." —Alexander
Fraser Tytler

On "May Day," that day each year when
Sociocrats around the world celebrate the suppression of individual, economic and
political liberty, the U.S. Senate and House reached agreement on how to whittle President
Bush's miniscule 5.7% tax cut over ten years down to a 3.5% tax cut over 11 years —
and the "details" have yet to be worked out.

The projected surplus (taxes collected in excess of revenues allocated) over the next
ten years is estimated to be $5.6 trillion. Mr. Bush's original proposal of a $1.6
trillion tax cut amounts to less than 29% of that projected surplus — only 5.7
percent of the estimated total $27.9 trillion in tax revenues to be collected — too
much for Senate.

According to the economic analysts at the Heritage Foundation, "The Bush tax cut,
measured as a percent of GDP, is only about one-fourth as large as the Reagan tax cut and
only about one-half as large as the Kennedy tax cut," both of which "triggered
record periods of economic growth." To achieve similar results, the analysts estimate
"the Bush tax cut should be...almost twice as large as [originally] proposed."

Unfortunately, the unfettered temptation to spend has already absorbed almost 80% of
the projected surplus. Whether the micro-measure compromise of a 3.5% tax break will be
enough to breathe any life back into a failing economy is doubtful.

Suffice it to say, the Left will play their class warfare ace and do everything they
can to make sure their least favored citizens are bearing the greatest tax burden —
thus avoiding the accountability that would follow if the tax burden were more equitably
spread among all citizens. Under the current "progressive" tax rates, 25% of
income earners pay 83% of the tax burden — effectively protecting the tax and spend
Republicrats from a majority tax revolt. Implementing Rep. Dick Armey's flat income tax
proposal, or a national sales tax collected by the states, would spread the burden of the
total cost of government over a greater number of people — putting great pressure on
the "tax and spenders" to stop it!

Elimination of the current tax code would also limit the Sociocrats' ability to use tax
law as a sledge hammer to "shape" the economy and redistribute income to their
favored constituents. Mortimer Caplin, a former IRS commissioner under Democrats Kennedy
and Johnson, notes:

The most promising legislative glimmer of hope on the tax reform horizon (applying our
"don't wound it — kill it!" principle) is HJR 45, a
measure introduced in late April by Rep. Ron Paul (one of the few members of Congress who
still attend to the letter of our Constitution). HJR 45 is a measure to repeal the 16th
Amendment, which, upon its ratification in 1913, allowed the federal government to do what
the Supreme Court had always ruled unconstitutional: levy a direct income tax on
individuals.

"The income tax has...enabled government to expand far beyond its proper limits,
invade our privacy, and penalize our every endeavor," notes Mr. Paul. "The
Founding Fathers never intended an income tax, and they certainly would be dismayed to
know that Americans today give more than a third of their income to the federal
government."

The central government's ability to impose direct income taxation is the single
greatest threat to liberty, and as our liberties are progressively diminished by
"progressive" taxation and the ever more powerful government it funds, we are
reminded of Nikita Khrushchev's observation:

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we
can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism,
until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."

Our patriot Founders cast off their government after its imposition of a tea tax
exceeded the limits of their endurance. Today, however, virtually every purchase or
transaction imaginable is taxed — in addition to the selective direct taxation
imposed by the central government. We have, indeed, become a subservient and compliant
people. But tax protest is no longer so easy as dumping crates into Boston Harbor.

The most logical way to protest income taxes is to stop paying them — but the
central government has removed that option by making sure most Americans' income taxes are
withheld — effectively keeping that portion of citizens' income claimed by the
government from ever reaching their pockets. Withholding also lulls taxpayers
into indifference because they never actually have to pay taxes — just wait for their
refund from the previous year's withheld income as if it is some kind of bonus.

(Of note, Rep. Ron Paul has also introduced H.R.1364 "to restore
to taxpayers awareness of the true cost of government by eliminating the withholding of
income taxes by employers and requiring individuals to pay income taxes in monthly
installments.")

But alas, as noted by Lord Tytler above, the fix is in. The redistribution of wealth in
the form of politically directed government largess will continue unabated until the
collection of taxes is democratized and "neutralized" — spread equitably
among all citizens. And, in reality, nothing short of disposing of the current tax code
— or disposing of the current government — will achieve that end.

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